Updating a story from yesterday, a federal judge says he can’t accept a plea deal for a former Illinois judge on heroin and gun charges because the prison term is too light. Michael Cook pleaded guilty in November as part of a deal with prosecutors that called for him to serve 18 months in prison. But yesterday, U.S. District Judge Joe Billy McDade rejected the deal, saying Cook deserves more prison time. An attorney for the former Saint Clair County judge declined to go through with the sentencing. He has three weeks to work out another deal with prosecutors. Cook also can ask for a jury trial. The case involves the death of Associate Judge Joe Christ, who was with Cook at a hunting cabin when he overdosed on cocaine last year.
